►Greek Mythology: “Mnemosyne” / “Collaboration with Resa McConaghy and Christy Birmingham” 💫.-

“Mnemosyne” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1881) .-

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mnemosyne/ Μνημοσύνη (Roman equivalent: Moneta(0)) was a Titaness, goddess of Memory (1) and the inventor of Words (2). 

Mnemosyne was also a goddess of time. She represented the rote memorisation required, before the introduction of writing, to preserve the stories of history and sagas of myth. She was the daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). Uranus and Gaia were the parents of the first generation of Titans, consisting of twelve elder gods/goddesses, being Mnemosyne included among them.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology, Mnemosyne among them.-

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

She was also lover of the Ruler of Gods, Zeus. 

After Zeus led the war against the Titans and established himself as the leader of the Olympians, he feared that, even though he might be immortal, his great victories and decisions might soon be forgotten.

Longing for a way to preserve the memory of his many great feats, he dressed as a shepherd and went to find Mnemosyne. 

The account tells that Zeus and Mnemosyne slept together for nine consecutive nights, thus birthing the nine Muses (3). 

The Muses were nine young, beautiful maidens who became the representatives of poetry, the arts, the sciences and sources of inspiration.

They were often depicted as accompanied by Apollo, who represented discipline and application of the arts. The Muses were: Calliope, epic or heroic poetry Clio, history Erato, love poetry and flute-playing Euterpe, lyric poetry and lyre-playing Melpomene, tragedy Polyhymnia, sacred music and dance Terpsichore, choral music and dance Thalia, comedy and idyllic poetry Urania, astronomy and cosmological poetry.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Apollo and the Muses” by Simon Vouet. 1640.

 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mnemosyne’s name derives from Mene, Moon, and mosune, ‘wooden house’ or ‘tower’, so literally means ‘the House of the Moon’.

 

The goddess Mnemosyne is sometimes credited with being the first philosopher, as her gift was the power of reason.

She was given responsibility for the naming of all objects, and by doing so gave humans the means to dialog and to converse with each other. 

The powers to place things in memory an that of remembrance were also attributed to this goddess.

 

The name Mnemosyne was also used for a river in the Underworld, Hades, which flowed parallel to the river of Lethe (4).  

Lethe was one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades, around the cave of Hypnos, the greek god of Sleep, and through the Underworld, where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. 

In chant XXXI of Dante’s “Divina Commedia”, at the very top of Purgatory, Dante is dipped into the River Lethe, which will cause amnesia. The chant of Asperges me (purge me) accompanies his immersion, and he then forgets his past sins and his atonement for them is complete.

Lethe was also the personification of oblivion, daughter of Eris, the goddess of discord who was directly involved with the golden appple and the Judgement of Paris.

Furthermore, the words Lethe or Elysium are often used as metaphors for the underworld or Hades in general.

Charon was the ferryman of the dead, in the service of the underworld domains of Hades. He received the shades of the dead from Hermes, who gathered them from the upper world and guided them through the underworld. Charon transported them in his boat to a final resting place in Hades, the land of the dead, on the other side.

The fee for his service were two coins which were placed on the eyelids of the dead person or just one coin, which was put in the mouth of the dead as a Greek burial custom .

It was believed that those who had not received due burial and were unable to pay his fee, would be left to wander the earthly side of the river Acheron, haunting the upper world as ghosts, being also unable to reincarnate.

 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Mnemosyne, The Mother of the Muses” by Frederic Leighton. (19th century).

 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some ancient Greeks believed that souls were made to drink from the river before being reincarnated, so they would not remember their past lives. 

Other accounts taught the existence of another river, the Mnemosyne; those who drank from the Mnemosyne would remember everything.

More specifically, according to the Orfism, a Greek mystical religious movement, the newly dead who drank from the River Lethe would lose all memory of their past existence.

The initiated were taught to seek instead the river of memory, Mnemosyne, thus securing the end of the transmigration of the soul.

 

Besides, Mnemosyne was considered a minor oracular goddess. She presided over the underground oracle of Trophonios in Boiotia. Ancient Greeks sometimes worshipped Mnemosyne in the form of a spring, alluding to her profuse, flowing energy. 

Before being brought to the oracle, initiates were taken to a place with two pools lying next to each other. They were instructed to first drink from the pool of Lethe, the Goddess of forgetfulness, in order that they might forget their previous lives. Then they were taken to the spring of Mnemosyne to drink so that they would remember all that they were about to learn from the oracle.

Finally, Mnemosyne can be related to Aletheia, the greek goddess of Truth, Remembering and the Unhidden. The Roman counterpart for this goddess is Veritas. 

Aletheia (ἀλήθεια) is a Greek word variously translated as “unclosedness”, “unconcealedness”, “disclosure” or “truth”. Contained within the etymology of the word Aletheia is “lethe” meaning “forgetfulness”, “oblivion” and also applicable to one of the five rivers of the Underworld in Hades, as it was previously said.

The german philosopher, Martin Heidegger in his book “Time and Being” drew out an understanding of the term as ‘unconcealedness’. According to him, aletheia is distinct from conceptions of truth understood as statements which accurately describe a state of affairs (correspondence), or statements which fit properly into a system taken as a whole (coherence).

Instead, Heidegger focused on the elucidation of how the “world” is disclosed, or opened up, in which things are made intelligible for human beings in the first place, as part of a holistically structured background of meaning.

There is also an interesting association between Memory, seen as a faculty and Plato´s theory of Ideas. Plato, through Socrates´voice, states- in the dialogue “Phaedo”- that the soul was immortal and gives four arguments to prove so.

The basis of these reasonings were previous statements which relate the ability to apprehend Ideas through a sort of process of intuitive memory.

In Plato’s Dialogues, learning appears as a process of remembering, assuming that the soul, before its incarnation in the body, was in the realm of the “Forms”. There, the soul saw the Essences-Forms or Ideas, rather than the pale shadows or copies we merely experience on earth. Hence, when we identify an object, we are just remembering the Idea or Form which remains as an incorruptible and eternal essence behind and at the same time beyond the particular object.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 ►Notes:

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Study of Jane Morris for ‘Mnemosyne’ (detail), 1876.-

(0) Moneta. In Roman mythology, Moneta was a title given to two separate goddesses: the goddess of memory (identified with the Greek goddess Mnemosyne) and an epithet of Juno/Hera, called Juno Moneta. Moneta is also a central figure in  John Keats‘ poem “The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream”. (See Excerp below)

‘Is Saturn’s; I Moneta, left supreme
‘Sole priestess of this desolation.’
I had no words to answer, for my tongue,
Useless, could find about its roofed home
No syllable of a fit majesty
To make rejoinder to Moneta‘s mourn.

 

(1)Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memory.  Socrates: “Let us, then, say that this is the gift of Mnemosyne (Memory), the mother of the Mousai (Muses), and that whenever we wish to remember anything we see or hear or think of in our own minds, we hold this wax under the perceptions and thoughts and imprint them upon it, just as we make impressions from seal rings; and whatever is imprinted we remember and know as long as its image lasts, but whatever is rubbed out or cannot be imprinted we forget and do not know”. Plato, Theaetetus 191c (trans. Fowler).-

(2) Mnemosyne, inventor of Words. “Of the female Titanes they say that Mnemosyne discovered the uses of the power of reason, and that she gave a designation to every object about us by means of the names which we use to express whatever we would and to hold conversation one with another; though there are those who attribute these discoveries to Hermes. And to this goddess is also attributed the power to call things to memory and to remembrance (mneme) which men possess, and it is this power which gave her the name she received”. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 67. 3 (trans. Oldfather) (C1st B.C.).-

(3) Mnemosyne and Zeus, parents of  the nine Muses. “And again, he [Zeus, after lying with Demeter] loved Mnemosyne with the beautiful hair: and of her the nine gold-crowned Moisai (Muses) were born”. Hesiod, Theogony 915 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (C8th or C7th B.C.) 

(4) Mnemosyne, a river which flowed parallel to the river of Lethe. “He [Aithalides, son of Hermes, gifted with unfailing memory] has long since been lost in the inexorable waters of the Acheron, yet even so, Lethe (Forgetfulness) has not overwhelmed his soul [ie unlike the other dead he remembers his past lives and retains his memory in the underworld]”. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 642 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.).-

__________________________________________________________

►Gallery: “Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memory ”:

“Charon, the ferryman”. Illustration.

Mnemosyne by Johann Theodor de Bry. 16th century.

“ River Lethe” by Lizzy Schule.

“Charon, the ferryman”. Illustration.

The goddess Mnemosyne places her hand on the back of a man’s head, symbolically aiding his memory. Mosaic. C2nd – C3rd AD. Imperial Roman Period.

“Dante’s Inferno: Etching” by Gustave Doré

The rivers Lethe and Mnemosyne.

God Hypnos, Bronze sculpture found at Perugia in 1915. British Museum.

River Lethe. Engraving.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“To Mnemosyne (Memory). The consort I invoke of Zeus divine; source of the holy, sweetly speaking Mousai nine; free from the oblivion of the fallen mind, by whom the soul with intellect is joined. Reason’s increase and thought to thee belong, all-powerful, pleasant, vigilant, and strong. ‘Tis thine to waken from lethargic rest all thoughts deposited within the breast; and nought neglecting, vigorous to excite the mental eye from dark oblivion’s night. Come, blessed power, thy mystics’ memory wake to holy rites, and Lethe’s (Forgetfulness) fetters break”. Orphic Hymn 77 to Mnemosyne (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.).-

 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This part of the post on Mnemosyne consists of a collaboration with two talented canadian women. Resa McConaghy and Christy Birmingham.
I was initially invited to join Resa and Christy in order to work in something together. Resa is an artist and costume designer and Christy a freelancer writer and poet.
I was delighted to be part of the project which figuratively unites a continent from North to South, or viceversa. And, nor less than having a Greek Goddess as pretext!.
Resa created a beautiful gown based on Mnemosyne whilst Christy wrote a poem following the same implicit prompt.
So, without further ado… I am leaving you with these two Northern Stars, and their respective contributions…

  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Resa has created a mesmerizing gown inspired in Mnemosyne. She chose red and white for the dress and added some beautiful details such as golden traces representing Mnemosyne’s daughters, the Nine Muses. I also liked the way she introduced the iconic two masks, depicting Comedy and Tragedy.

Mnemosyne was the patroness of poets, and she played a very important role when it comes to preserve the Oral tradition. So I think this detail speaks out loud in that sense. 

Resa tells us more about this gown in her post on Goddess Mnemosyne, which you will be able to find on her blog Art Gowns.

 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Goddess Mnemosyne. Artgown by © Resa McConaghy. 2016.-

Goddess Mnemosyne. Artgown by Resa McConaghy.

  __________________________________________________________

 ►About Resa McConaghy:

Resa is a canadian artist, costume designer and author.

She hosts two blogs Graffiti Lux and Murals and Art Gowns.

She has written a book, “Nine Black Lives”, available on Amazon. You can follow Resa on Twitter, too.

__________________________________________________________

Art Gowns: http://artgowns.com/ Graffiti Lux and Murals: http://graffitiluxandmurals.com/

__________________________________________________________

 

Christy has written a beautiful poetic ode to Mnemosyne. The title is so clever, I like the fact that she has chosen a gerund and that Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory is being remembered.

The first stanza delves into the temporal dialectic of memories (second and third verses), alluding to Mnemosyne´s daughters and developing that idea in the second stanza, in which Zeus is also mentioned as the father of the Muses.

The third stanza entails a great twist as it places Mnemosyne´s influence among us, hic et nunc (here and now). Christy highlights how Mnemosyne is being acknowledged in the collaboration that beckons her spirit to birth again.

You can check out more Christy´s poems on her blog Poetic Parfait.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Remembering Mnemosyne

She is one with memory,
Closer to the past than the present,
With a future that pops forth nine muses who
Walk with mythically-lined toes full of
Musicality, poetic verse, and
Laughter for miles.
~~~
The talented Muses are born as
Presents to the mind –
They are gifts from Zeus and Mnemosyne,
Whose passionate harvest spread over evenings that
Would later inspire three creative women afar.
~~~
Her magical wonder ignites poetic words that
Mix with design and descriptions into a
Collaboration that beckons her spirit to birth again,
This time with dialogue, syllables and an exquisite
Red fabric that cloaks us all in comfort.

© Christy Birmingham. 2016 .-

©Poetic Parfait 2016. Artwork for Christy Birmingham´s Poem.

__________________________________________________________

►About Christy Birmingham:

Christy is a canadian freelance writer, poet and author. She is the author of two books. The poetry collection “Pathways to Illumination”(2013), available  at Redmund Productions. And another poetry book,  “Versions of the Self” (2015), which you can find on Amazon.  She also hosts two blogs: Poetic Parfait and When Women Inspire. You can connect with Christy on Twitter too. 

__________________________________________________________

Poetic Parfait: http://poeticparfait.com/ When Women Inspire: http://whenwomeninspire.com/

“Pathways to Illumination”: http://redmundpro.com/book-store/pi/ “Versions of the Self”: http://www.amazon.com/Versions-Self-Christy-Birmingham/dp/0994094906

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

►Links Post:

http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisMnemosyne.html

http://greekmythology.wikia.com/wiki/Mnemosyne

http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/PotamosLethe.html

https://lpsmythologywiki.wikispaces.com/Greek+Myths–The+River+of+Styx

http://symbolreader.net/2014/02/16/the-secrets-of-the-odyssey-2/

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Lethe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aletheia

http://artgowns.com/2016/02/01/goddess-mnemosyne/

http://poeticparfait.com/2015/05/16/versions-of-the-self-poetry-book-kindle-and-hard-copy/

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Read Full Post »

►Greek Mythology: Atlas / Poem: “Atlas ♁”, by Eva Xanthopoulos.-

“Atlas holding up a celestial map”. Sculpture by Artus Quellinus. (17th century). Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Atlas (which means ‘very enduring’), was one of the Titans. He was son of  Iapetus (a Titan, son of Uranus and Gaia), and the Oceanid Clymene.

Atlas´ brothers were Prometheus (meaning ‘forethought’, the Titan who gave the human race the gift of fire and the skill of metalwork), Epimetheus (meaning ‘afterthought’. He was Pandora´s husband) and Menoetius (meaning “doomed might”).

Atlas was married to his sister, Phoebe (Titan and Goddess of Prophecy). 

He had numerous children, including  the Pleiades (the stars that announced good spring weather), the Hesperides (the maidens who guarded a tree bearing golden apples), the Hyades, (the stars that announced the rainy season), Hyas (Brother of the Hyades, and spirit of seasonal rains), the nymph Calypso, Dione (Goddess of the Oak and the personification of a more ancient Mother Goddess, and presumably, Aphrodite´s mother) and Maera. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Clymene”, by John William Godward. (19th century). Clymene was Atlas´mother.

“Prometheus” by Gustave Moreau. (1868). Prometheus was Atlas´brother.

“Epimetheus Receiving Pandora”, by Henry Howard (1834). Epimetheus was Atlas´brother.

“The Pleiades” by Elihu Vedder (1885). The Pleiades were daughters of Atlas.

“Garden Of The Hesperides” by Edward Burne-Jones, (19th c). The Hesperides were the daughters of Atlas.

Detail from “Calypso receiving Telemachus and Mentor in the Grotto” by William Hamilton. (18th century). Calypso was daughter of Atlas.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

During the Titanomachy, the War between the Titans and  the Olympian gods for control of the heavens, Atlas and his brother Menoetius sided with the Titans, while Prometheus and Epimetheus helped the Olympian gods.

Atlas was the leader in the batttle; however, being on the losing side, Zeus condemned him to eternally stand on the western side of Gaia (the earth) holding Uranus (the sky) on his shoulders.

Homer describes Atlas in his “Odyssey” as ‘deadly-minded’ and as holding the pillars which hold the heavens and earth apart.

Hesiod  in his “Theogony” also describes Atlas as holding up the heavens and locates him in the land of the Hesperides (female deities famed for their singing), which was far to the west, at the edge of the world.

Later tradition, including Herodotus, associates the god with the Atlas Mountains where the Titan was transformed from a shepherd into a huge rock mountain by Perseus (who had behead Medusa), using the head of the Gorgon Medusa with her deadly stare. (Note: the Gorgon Medusa was one of three ugly monsters who had snakes for hair, staring eyes, and huge wings).

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the Left: “Medusa”, by Carvaggio (1595). On the Right: Statue of Perseus, holding Medusa´s head. Piazza della Signoria, Florence. Italy.

Both sides of The Titan. NYC, St. Patrick’s Cathedral/Rockefeller Center.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Atlas was considered a source of great wisdom and founder of astronomy, and, according to Plato, in his dialogue “Critias”, he was the original king of Atlantis.

Atlas had been required to fetch the golden apples from the fabled gardens of the Hesperides which were sacred to Zeus´wife, Hera, and guarded by the fearsome hundred-headed dragon Ladon.  

Following the advice of Prometheus, Heracles (the grandson of Perseus) asked Atlas to get him the apples because he was the father of the Hesperides, who guarded the Golden Apples´Garden…

He was also requested to take the world onto his shoulders for a while, with the help of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.

But, Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the load back by asking Atlas to hold it while he shifted the load.

Hercules then took the apples and Atlas again shouldered the weight of the heavens.

Because the place where Atlas stood to perform his task was the westernmost end of the world known to the ancient Greeks, the ocean near him was called the Atlantic, meaning the “Sea of Atlas” in his honor.

Atlas’ best-known cultural association is in cartography / maps. The first publisher to associate the Titan Atlas with a group of maps was Antonio Lafreri, on an engraved title-page in 1572. However, he did not use the word “atlas” in the title of his work. The mapmaker Gerardus Mercator was the first to put a picture of Atlas holding up the world – not the heavens – on the title page of his book.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the Left: Atlas bears the world and the cosmos on his shoulders – from a 16th century English woodcut. On The Right: Atlas holding up the world on his back. Drawing by Danckerts, Justus.

“Atlas turned to stone” (The Perseus´Series), by Edward Burne Jones (1878).

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

►Gallery: Atlas:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

__________________________________________________________________________________

►Links Post

http://atlascider.com/atlasmythology.html

http://www.greekmythology.com/Titans/Atlas/atlas.html

https://mitologiahelenica.wordpress.com/2015/05/07/perseu-e-atlas/

http://www.mapforum.com/03/lafrscho.htm

http://www.ancient.eu/Atlas/

 •~~~• ⭐ •~~~ • ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~•

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I want to be your Atlas, so I can
chisel away at “alas,” and grant you
relief from worries of the past.

I want to create a globe out
of those woes
to carry on my shoulders—
just for a moment.

Just so you can exhale the words:

“At last”.

© 2015 – Eva PoeteX

Originally published on Eva PoeteX.-

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Eva Xanthopoulos: She is a Greco-American Artist and Mystic Poet. She is also a  Supporter of various causes and Promoter of artists worldwide.

Learn More about Eva here 

Check out her Poetry blog!. Also make sure to follow Eva on Twitter and  Facebook.

⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Eva Xanthopoulos AKA Eva Poetex.

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

Read Full Post »

►Greek Mythology: “Zeus, The Ruler of Gods”.-

“Jupiter and Europe” by Gustave Moreau (1868).

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Zeus was the supreme god in Ancient Greece, the father of the Olympian gods and the ruler of mankind. He was identified with the Roman god Jupiter and associated with other deities, such as the Egyptian god Ammon and the Etruscan god Tinia. 

He was regarded by the Greeks as the god of all natural phenomena on the sky; the personification of the laws of nature; the ruler of the state; and finally, the father of gods and men.

Zeus was the last child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Zeus had five older siblings. Two brothers (Poseidon and Hades), and three sisters (Hestia, Hera and Demeter).

Cronus had learnt that he was destined to be overthrown by his son as he had previously overthrown Uranus, his own father. His wife Rhea, knew that he would kill the baby so she sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him.

Finally, Rhea she gave birth to Zeus in Crete and hid him in a cave and he was raised by Gaia. 

As mentioned previously, Zeus’ father, Cronus, had sired several five children by Rhea, but he swallowed them all as soon as they were born.  After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge his  siblings in reverse order of swallowing.

Then he released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus.

Zeus married his own sister, Hera, the goddess of marriage and monogamy, but was giving her plenty of reasons to be jealous, since Zeus was renowned of his numerous lovers As a result, Zeus fathered plenty of children.

By Hera, Zeus sired Ares and Hephaestus (who would be both Aphrodite’s lovers) and Hebe, the goddess of youth. 

He had love affairs with Demeter (the Goddess of the Harvest and Perspehone’s mother), Leto (the Goddess of Motherhood), Dione (the personification of a more ancient Mother Goddess), Maia (a Nymph) and Thetis (A Sea Nymph and leader of the Fifty Nereids). Also Metis, (one of the Okeanides and the Titan goddess of good counsel and advise) was his lover and his first wife and Athena (the goddess of wisdom) was their daughter.

Among mortals she had several lovers such as Io, Leda, Europa, and even the handsome young man Ganymede, to whom Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality. Seleme was also among them and with her Zeus sired Dionysus (The god of Wine).

Zeus was the god of regulated time as marked by the changing seasons and the regular succession of day and night, in contrast to what his father Cronus represented before him; absolute time, meaning eternity.

As the personification of the operations of nature, he represented the glaws of unchanging order, by which both the natural and the spiritual world were governed.

As the father of the gods, Zeus ascertained that each deity perform their individual duty, punished their misdeeds, settled their disputes, and acted towards them on all occasions.

The symbols of Zeus were the scepter, the throne and the thunderbolt, which was as a gift from the Cyclopes after he liberated them. Zeus’ tree was theoak tree and his sacred animal was the eagle. Using his shield, the Aegis, he could create all natural phenomena related to the air and the sky, such as storms and tempests.

______________________________________________________________

“Jupiter and Semele” by Gustave Moreau (1895).

“Zeus and Ganymede. (Ttheft of fire)” by Christian Griepenkerl (1878) .

 

“Jupiter and Thetis”, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. (1811).

____________________________________________________________________________

“O Zeus, much-honoured, Zeus supremely great, to thee our holy rites we consecrate, our prayers and expiations, king divine, for all things to produce with ease through mind is thine. Hence mother earth (Gaia) and mountains swelling high proceed from thee, the deep and all within the sky. Kronion king, descending from above, magnanimous, commanding, sceptred Zeus; all-parent, principle and end of all, whose power almighty shakes this earthly ball; even nature trembles at thy mighty nod, loud-sounding, armed with lightning, thundering god. Source of abundance, purifying king, O various-formed, from whom all natures spring; propitious hear my prayer, give blameless health, with peace divine, and necessary wealth”. [Orphic Hymn 15 to Zeus. (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.)]~

______________________________________________________________________________

“Zeus at Olympia, One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”:

“Zeus at Olympia”, sculture by Phidias. Drawings.

On the Left: A fanciful reconstruction of Phidias’ statue of Zeus, in an engraving made by Philippe Galle in 1572. On the Right: Coin from Elis district, Greece illustrating the Olympian Zeus statue.

The Statue of “Zeus at Olympia” was a giant seated figure, about 42 ft (13 m) tall, made by the Greek sculptor Phidias around 435 BC at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece, and erected in the Temple of Zeus. It  It was regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, until its eventual destruction for unknown causes during the 5th century AD.

In the 2nd century AD, the geographer Pausanias gave a detailed description. The statue was crowned with a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. It had gold sandals, and a golden robe carved with animals and lilies. In its right hand was a small chryselephantine statue of crowned Nike, goddess of victory. Its left hand held a sceptre inlaid with many metals, supporting an eagle. The throne was decorated in gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory. 

The Roman “Seated Zeus” sculpture is considered a copy of the original Statue of Zeus, and it was created following the type established by Phidias.

“Zeus at Olympia”. Zeus enthroned holding a royal sceptre and winged Nike (Victory), and with an eagle by his side. Roman copy inspired by Greek ivory and gold statue of Zeus at Olympia by Phidias. Marble & Bronze . Imperial Roman. C1st AD Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia.

“Zeus at Olympia”. Roman copy inspired by Greek ivory and gold statue of Zeus at Olympia by Phidias. Marble & Bronze . Imperial Roman. C1st AD Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia.

_____________________________________________________________________________

►Gallery: “Zeus, The Ruler of Gods”:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

____________________________________________________________________________________

►Links Post: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus

http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/GreekGods/Zeus/

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_fidegze.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Zeus_at_Olympia

http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/zeus/#zeus-family

http://www.talesbeyondbelief.com/roman-gods/jupiter.htm

http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Zeus/zeus.html

http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/sevens-wonders-of-the-ancient-world

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

I would like to thank Purple Anais from Arwenaragornstar for nominating me for a Lovely Blog Award.

I also want to thank The Chaos Realm for nominating me for a Versatile Blogger Award.

Finally I appreciate that Unbolt nominated me for a Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.

Thanks to these three bloggers and please make sure to check out their blogs and to follow them, If you haven’t still done so!.~ 😎  

Note: In this ocassion and for the three awards, I will nominate blogs I have recently came across and like, recent followers and plussers. Also,  I will follow the nomination process without answering questions or mentioning facts about me…. 

__________________________________________________________________

►Rules for these Three Awards:

♠ Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
♠ Add the logo to your post.
♠Nominate ten (10) bloggers you admire and inform your nominees by commenting on their blogs. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

►I) Nominees~Lovely Blog Award (True Colors Version):

1. Tina Frisco 2. The Golden Echo 3. The Peacock Feather 4. For the love of Nike  5. Speculations Impressed 6. Poet Charms 7. The Rose Hotel 8. Margaret Langstaff 9. June Kearns  10. An Honest Sinner

 _______________________________________________________________________________________

►II) Nominees~Versatile Blogger Award (Flowers Version):

1. Echoes and Reflections 2. Eudaimonia 3. The Haute Mommy Handbook 4. Into the forgotten 5. Words of No Wisdom 6. Welcome to my World 7. Chronicle Me 8. Fifty Shades of Reality 9. Hiddenaltar 10. Jakariabulbul

 _______________________________________________________________________________________

►III) Nominees~Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award (Cool Version):

1. Drifting through my Open Mind 2. Naponteaerea 3. Lenkalaskoradova 4. The return of the Modern Philosopher 5. 101 Half Connected Things 6. Everyday People 7. Catalina Trujillo 8. The Book Haven 9. Robin’s Real Life 10. Kultur Post

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Read Full Post »

Greek Mythology: “The Erinyes” (The Furies) / Poetry: Verónica Boletta: “Three”.-

►Greek Mythology: “The Erinyes” (The Furies):

►Poetry: Verónica Boletta: “Three”:

“Orestes and the Erynies” by Gustave Moreau (1891).

_______________________________________________________________________________

In Greek Mythology, the Erinyes were mainly goddesses of vengeance.

The name Erinnys, which is the more ancient one, was derived by the Greeks from the erinô or ereunaô, I hunt up or persecute, or from the Arcadian word erinuô, I am angry; so that the Erinnyes were either the angry goddesses, or the goddesses who hunt up or search after the criminal

The goddesses were often addressed by the euphemistic names Eumenides (“Kind Ones”) or Semnai Theai (“Venerable Goddesses”). Eumenides signifies “the well-meaning,” or “soothed goddesses”.

They were probably personified curses, but possibly they were originally conceived of as ghosts of the murdered. 

They were depicted as ugly, winged women with hair, arms and waists entwined with serpents:

 “You handmaidens, look at them there: like Gorgones, wrapped in sable garments, entwined with swarming snakes!”. Aeschylus, “Libation Beaers” (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.).

According to the Greek poet Hesiod, they were the daughters of Gaia (Earth) and sprang from the blood of her mutilated spouse Uranus; in the plays of Aeschylus, they were the daughters of Nyx; in those of Sophocles, they were the daughters of Darkness and of Gaia. Euripides was the first to speak of them as three in number.

Later authors named them Allecto (“Unceasing in Anger”), Tisiphone (“Avenger of Murder”), and Megaera (“Jealous”).

Among the things sacred to them we hear of serpents, chthonian animals associated with the Underworld. Also their sacred bird was the screech owl, a nocturnal bird of ill omen, closely associated with curses and the gods of the dead. As to the plants, they were associated to the narcissus.

They were particularly worshipped at Athens, where a festival called Eumenideia was celebrated in their honour.

These goddesses were sometimes seen as servants of Hades and Persephone in the Underworld.

As the Erinyes not only punished crimes after death, but during life on earth, they were conceived also as goddesses of fate, who, together with Zeus and the Moirae, led such men as were doomed to suffer into misery and misfortunes.

The wrath of the Erinyes manifested itself in a number of ways.

The most severe of these was the tormenting madness inflicted upon a patricide or matricide. Murderers might suffer illness or disease; and a nation harbouring such a criminal, could suffer dearth, and with it hunger and disease.

This is mostly what happens in Aeschylus’s “Oresteia”, a three-act drama of family fate, like the “Oedipus trilogy” by Sophocles.

The three parts of “The Oresteia” are: First: “Agamemnon”. Second: “The Libation Bearers“. Third and last play: “The Eumenides”.

In “Agamemnon”, Clytemnestra herself  murders his husband Agamemnon.

In “The Libation Bearers”, Clytemnestra is murdered by her son Orestes.

In the  third and last play,”The Eumenides”, Orestes is judged because of his crime by a jury composed of Athena and twelve Athenians. Although Orestes’ actions were what Apollo had commanded him to do, Orestes has still committed matricide, a grave sacrilege. Because of this, he is pursued and tormented by the terrible Erinyes. 

In Aeschylus’ tragedy “The Eumenides”, the Erinyes introduce themselves and later on, say to Orestes: 

“We claim to be just and upright. No wrath from us will come stealthily to the one who holds out clean hands, and he will go through life unharmed; but whoever sins and hides his blood-stained hands, as avengers of bloodshed we appear against him to the end, presenting ourselves as upright witnesses for the dead”. (Aeschylus’ Oresteia “The Eumenides”. 310).

“We drive matricides from their homes … Since a mother’s blood leads us, we will pursue our case against this man and we will hunt him down”… (Aeschylus’ Oresteia “The Eumenides”. 230).

“Allow us in return to suck the red blood from your living limbs. May we feed on you -a gruesome drink! We will wither you alive and drag you down, so that you pay atonement for your murdered mother’s agony”. (Aeschylus’ Oresteia “The Eumenides”. 265).

At Delphi’s Oracle, Orestes has been told by Apollo that he should go to Athens to seek the aid of the goddess Athena.

Once in Athens, Athena arranges for Orestes to be tried by a jury of Athenian citizens, with her presiding.

The Erinyes appear as Orestes’ accusers, while Apollo speaks in his defense. The jury vote is evenly split.

Athena participates in the vote and declares Orestes acquitted because of the rules she established for the trial.

Despite the verdict, the Erinyes threaten to torment all inhabitants of Athens.

Athena, however, offers the ancient goddesses a new role, as protectors of justice. Thus, she persuades them to break the cycle of blood for blood, as  as mercy should always take precedence over harshness. This threat satisfy the Erinyes, who are then led by Athena in a procession to their new city.

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Orestes Pursued by the Furies” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1861).

_________________________________________________________________________

►Gallery: “The Erinyes” (The Three Furies):

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

_____________________________________________________________________________

►Poetry: A poem by Verónica Boletta: “Three”:

Fate

is revenge.

Impious triad of

blood,

tears and whips.

—

Talion’s trident, (*)

incarnated in snakes:

haughty,

horrific and

unmentionable.

—

Each murder

finds punishment

in the gathering point

in which Eternity

and Infinite

turn into Hell.

—

Death

is not solace,

nor sheltering sky.

Hence…

madness.

—

©2014 Verónica Boletta.-

Note: (*) Talion: the system or legal principle of making the punishment correspond to the crime; retaliation.

●▬▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬▬●

___________________________________________________________________________

►About Verónica Boletta:

Verónica lives in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has a degree in Economic Sciences. 

‘Numbers’ are her Career of Currency as she says.

Regardless, she has her own “B side”. She is also a writer and therefore likes to embrace ‘Words’, particularly in the shape of great poems…

So, being this said and without further ado, make sure to check out Verónica’s blog here. Also feel free to connect with her at Twitter. 

Verónica Boletta dixit: “Abrazo los números como profesión de divisas y las palabras como profesión y esperanza de vida. Reescribo mis credenciales y mis cartas de presentación así como borroneo en bocetos, la vida. Soy la mirada y el ojo, los sonidos y el oído, las letras del abecedario y las palabras, los pies en la tierra y la esperanza en el cielo”.~

_____________________________________________________________________

Verónica Boletta.-

________________________________________________________________________

►Links Post:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/222733/Furies

http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Erinyes.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erinyes

http://dutchie.org/goddess-erinyes/ 

http://www.maicar.com/GML/ERINYES.html

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Fi-Go/Furies.html

________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Read Full Post »